Queering gender, music and art

Defining Justin Bond’s gender is no less difficult than figuring out what makes the 47-year-old performer’s cabaret act so compelling. It can be hilarious, heart-wrenching, vulnerable, sardonic, Wiccan, and world-weary all at the same time.
— Out Magazine, May 2011.

Downtown New York music scenester and queer avant-garde singer, songwriter and performance artist Justin Bond — now named Mx. Justin Vivian Bond and “V” instead of he/she or him/her — will take to the stage at Carrboro’s ArtsCenter on June 4.

Queer avant-garde artist Mx. Justin Vivian Bond will perform in Carrboro as part of a new U.S. tour.

Bond, known for V’s various works in film, music and theater, released V’s first full-length album as a solo artist on April 4 and is currently on tour across the U.S.

The album, “Dendrophile,” encapsulates the various and constantly evolving dimensions of Bond’s career: sold-out audiences at New York’s Joe’s Pub, a song from John Cameron Mitchell’s “Shortbus” (in which Bond starred), a Karen Carpenter song Bond performed in the previously released “Justin Bond is Close to You” and material from Bond’s recent performance piece “Re:Galli Bonde.”

Sex, gender and sexuality are foremost themes Bond’s new album. Bond is particularly interested in queer, specifically transgender, identity, which V has embraced in V’s transition to the mixed-gender Mx. Justin Vivian Bond. In the song “American Wedding,” Bond sets to music poetry by the late queer writer-activist Essex Hemphill. “The Golden Age of Hustlers” was written by Bambi Lake, a transsexual woman Bond has known since V lived in San Francisco.

Other highlights of the album include “Crowley A La Lee,” which was inspired by an imagined meeting between Aleister Crowley and Peggy Lee, and “The New Economy” an unmistakably Bondesque commentary on the worldwide economic crisis.

Bond’s June 4 Carrboro performance opens at 7:30 p.m. at The ArtsCenter, 300 E. Main St. Tickets are $20 in advance, $22 day-of and $18 for ArtsClub members.

To purchase tickets or get more information, visit artscenterlive.org or call 919-929-2787, ext. 201. : :

— Compiled from release

Share this:

You can support independent, local LGBT media!

Give a one-time gift or sign up for ongoing voluntary online subscription to support qnotes' nearly three-decade long community service and keep our publication's dynamic, hard-hitting and insightful news and entertainment coverage alive. Click here to support us today.

Charlotte LGBT Protections

You can support QNotes

You can support independent, local LGBT media! Give a one-time gift or sign up for an ongoing, voluntary online subscription to support qnotes' nearly three-decade long community service and keep our publication's dynamic, hard-hitting and insightful news and entertainment coverage alive. Click here to support us today.

On Stands Now

QNotes is ready for spring and all the fine arts and entertainment that will come with it. Take a look through our Spring A&E Guide, with theatre listings, events, concerts and more, plus our cover story with local performer Tyler Smith. Also: local, regional and national news of note.